US stocks open with bounce on Black Friday
Market watch top headlines
Australian reports
- Aust markets: Aust stocks weaken after consumer reading
- Aust dollar report: $A falls after weak sentiment data
- Aust credit close: Aust bonds slightly weaker
World reports
- World commodities: Commodities markets summary
- World markets: International markets roundup
NEW YORK, Nov 23 AFP
November 24 2012, 01:43AM
US stocks bounced higher as the market reopened on Friday after the Thanksgiving break, with trading expected to be lighter than normal due to the holiday-shortened session.
Retail stocks could be in focus on Black Friday, when companies offer deep discounts to kick off the holiday shopping season.
The markets got off to a strong start. In the first five minutes of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 61.75 points (0.48 per cent) at 12,898.64.
The broad-market S&P 500 index advanced 6.35 (0.46 per cent) to 1,397.38, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 16.72 (0.57 per cent) to 2,943.26.
"The fiscal cliff negotiations still hang over the market as the dominant issue, but today the talk is all about retail on one of the busiest shopping days of the year," said Dick Green at Briefing.com.
The US markets close early at 1:00 pm (1800 GMT).
On Wednesday, stocks made modest gains in light pre-Thanksgiving trade after Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement.
